Meet Hamden’s Democratic mayoral hopefuls

With complaints on the rise because of taxes and budgeting, three Democrat hopefuls seek to take over as mayor of Hamden. After interviewing each candidate, HQNN has offered some background information on what each seeks to tackle as mayor.

Brad Macdowall

Brad Macdowall ran for Hamden Town Council in 2017 and has been a sitting member for four years. A town native, Macdowall says he wants to crack down on a plethora of issues in Hamden.

“Things that need to be looked into and fixed…It’s going to be finances, economic development, environment, energy and storm resiliency,” Macdowall said. 

Macdowall explained the active role he has taken while a councilman on confronting environmental issues that face Hamden. 

“Every environmental initiative that came from the council came from me,” he said. “There’s been several financial things that we’ve worked on … I’ve consistently been able to deliver legislative victories from the Legislative Council.”

Macdowall noted his job management experience as what separates him from other candidates. 

“I’ve worked for over 27 organizations at once managing hundreds of employees at a time. I have the experience and the bandwidth to be able to do not only talent acquisition, but equitable talent acquisition and retention.”

Lauren Garrett

Lauren Garret, former Hamden councilwoman,, ran against sitting mayor Curt Leng in the 2019 primaries. Despite her loss four years ago, Garret believes she is the best candidate to help the town address issues of budgeting and education. 

“We need to definitely get our debt under control. And we need to be much better about paying down our liabilities,” Garret said. “I want today’s children to be able to live in Hamden, in the future, and feel confident that Hamden is a good place for them to settle, and that happens with good education.”

Garrett noted personal experiences that she believes separate her from the two other candidates.  

“I have the experience of managing a small business; I also have three children in Hamden public schools,” she said. “I’m very invested, both personally, financially, in this town.I also have the experience of running a campaign before, building the team … getting the volunteers.”

Peter Cyr

At age 26, Peter Cyr is the youngest of the candidates.. However,  he is unfazed by that as he was quick to list his plans. 

“It’s all about the budget, we can’t do anything until we fix the budget. And you need an honest way to start addressing and paying down those liabilities,” he said. “Bring shedding some light on the situation and telling taxpayers where their money is going.”

Cyr doesn’t view his age as a disadvantage. 

“I am young, but I think that is a good thing,” Cyr said. “I think we need energy, and we need to talk to people since people don’t know what’s going on in Hamden. I have the energy to go out and knock every door and sort of meet everyone. I want to do that.”

Cyr previously worked with U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), leading his FightBackCT program, Murphy’s turnout/field operation. Cyr takes pride in his ability to gather people not usually engaged in municipal elections, and get them more involved.